Frugal Deck

Pallet Deck Building by a Novice

Our church has been going through a building project and over the winter I noticed a stack of pallets piled up by the corner of the new construction.  As I walked home from work I thought, "That will be nice come spring for a bonfire."  But later that evening I began to search Google for projects I could build using old pallets.  Of course my Google search resulted in a little over 8 billion results and a necessary, yet very hesitant membership to Pinterest.com (please do not judge me or take my "Man-Card").  The project that captured my attention was a pallet deck, so I began researching how to build one.  After watching a few Youtube videos and reading a few blogs I decided that is what I would do.  I contacted some friends who had pallets from their places of employment and they delivered them to me, so I began my project with over 50 pallets.

First Step in laying out the decking after
leveling the ground

First I cleared and leveled my yard the best that I could using a rear-tine tiller.  I went over the yard about 3 times with the tiller to really break up the soil and make it loose enough to rake.  Then I used a 12' 2"x4" to level and drag the dirt from the high places to the low places and finished it up with a rake.  Then I decided that the best way to level the deck and get it up off the ground for water to drain away was gravel, so I placed several inches of gravel under the pallets and it helped in the leveling process.

There are several ways described online on how to build the deck, but this is how I decided to do it.  I left the pallets  intact that would serve as the base and then dismantled additional pallets and used the boards to run across the top of the pallets as the deck boards.  I ran my deck boards in the opposite direction of the pallet boards for strength and screwed them down with deck screws.

Pallet Boards running up & down while I ran the
Deck Boards left-to-right.

I have found that the best way to dismantle the pallets is to use a reciprocating saw with a metal blade.  I just cut the nails off between the stringers and the top & bottom boards of the pallets and was usually able to salvage every single board.  I decided that I would only connect 3 pallets together with the deck boards in case some of them rotted, that way I could remove that section and simply replace it without dismantling the entire deck.  I am awaiting the weather to turn dry and warm for several days in a row so I can Thompson's Water Seal the deck for protection.  I suppose it could be stained but I really like the rustic and natural look of the wood.

Just a few tips if you have never worked with pallets before:

1.  Pallets come in a variety of sizes, so measure them.

2.  Pallets are built quickly and are seldom square.

3.  The boards from pallets come in various widths and thickness, so be prepared.

4.  Pallets can typically be obtained very inexpensively.

To date I have spent around $60 on this entire project, most of which is deck screws, Thompson's Water Seal and saw blades.

Deck will be completed behind the wheel borrow against the house

I originally planned to mulch around the deck but I like the looks of the rocks and flowers better,
plus I won't have to mulch again next year after the mulch turns gray.

I nailed PVC pipe to the corners of the deck and then placed the Tiki Torches in the pipe to hold them in place.
They give plenty of light and also mark the corners of the deck.